DESCRIPTION: use a culturally sensitive diabetes specific health protection model as a comprehensive assessment framework to determine the predictors of successful diabetic management of a newly diagnosed non-insulin-dependent diabetic (NIDDM) low-income Hispanic population. A three-phase data collection process will be used to answer the hypotheses of this study. Interviews, questionnaires, and self-care behavior indices will be used to test a health protection model delineated research-based factors that predict possible outcomes in people with NIDDM. The predictors include personal and biological characteristics upon diagnosis, and health- and behavior-related influences after standard educational sessions (health beliefs, and perceptions of barriers to self-care, levels of social and professional support, and self-efficacy). The outcomes (determined at three months post diagnosis) include both self-care behavioral indices and lifestyle changes, as well as cognitive (knowledge), psychological (quality of life), and physiological (metabolic control) parameters. Testing of the psychometric properties of the instruments in the target population will be an important contribution of the study. Structural equation modeling using EQS will be applied to test hypotheses on direct and indirect effects in the theoretical model for each outcome construct.